Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

This is one of those shows where the title will just make you shake your head and say, "Seriously? What the fuck, Japan? Did you just string a bunch of words together from random pages of the dictionary?" The official English translation for this series is "Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai." And not only is it a mouthful, but it's a total lie. Rascal totally does dream of his bunny-girl senpai. But whatever, let me get on with this.

I can't even begin to guess which genre this series falls into based on that title. It could be a show for toddlers and the bunny girl could be an actual anthropomorphic girl bunny. It could also be a stupid teen sex-romp comedy.

It's actually neither of those. It's more like a mix of Haruhi Suzumiya and Bakemonogatari: a high school show featuring strange and witty (some would say "quirky") characters working their way through kind of crazy supernatural experiences that last 2 to 3 episodes at a time.

Oh, great... So nothing fresh.

I wouldn't go quite that far. The characters make up for a lot of the unoriginality here. And honestly, it does add some fresh twists to the genre of "odd high school characters dealing with strange circumstances of a supernatural origin on a daily basis."

See, instead of dealing with a girl who subconsciously becomes a god, or a girl cursed by a crab spirit, or a girl who becomes possessed by a cat demon, Rascal-Bunny-Girl is all about dealing with "Adolescence Syndrome."

You mean "puberty"? This show's about kids dealing with puberty? No thanks, sicko.

No, not puberty, but supernatural ailments that come from the strong emotional and chemical changes that are associated with puberty. The show is basically making fun of all the other shows in the genre, or at least giving its own explanation as to why these strange metaphysical and almost mythical problems always happen to teenagers. It's a little known syndrome that most adults refuse to believe actually exists, and it appears differently for each kid who experiences it.

For example, one girl in this show was terribly bullied online by her classmates. Her Adolescence Syndrome displayed itself in the form of her getting inexplicable bruising across her body (showing what she felt inside), and then ultimately caused her to forget who she was and who everybody around her was... Something that a lot of teens wish for because they're too inexperienced and (quite honestly) too retarded to handle things in a rational and mature way.

Yeah, teenagers are stupid. They all suck.

YOU suck. No, teenagers are NOT stupid (well, not all of them). I was one once, and you act like a petulant one now. But, they are sometimes rash, think they're immortal, and a lot of times don't think their actions all the way through, especially when it comes to how their behavior can affect others around them. And that is exactly what this show is about.

Ugh, can you be a little more specific about its plot? I'm already bored. You bored me.

Rascal-Bunny-Girl is all about our protagonist, one Sakuta Azusagawa, trying to keep a low profile in high school after he's been rumored to have put three kids in the hospital a few years prior to the show's start. That's all bullshirt though, as Sakuta was actually physically harmed while trying to help his sister deal with her version of Adolescence Syndrome. She's the one with the bruising and the amnesia that I told you about above.

Anyway, while at the library one day, Sakuta comes across a strange sight: a teenaged model and actress, one Mai Sakurajima, dancing around the library in a bunny girl outfit, like something out of the Playboy Club... Only he's the only one who appears to notice her.

Upon talking with her, Sakuta finds out that the actress is tired of the unending grind of her career choices, as well as the pressures of school, and that she has found that people have started to ignore her, and then outright not even see her.

Because of his own experience with Adolescence Syndrome, Sakuta is able to interact with the hot beauty, and he makes it his mission to find a way to reverse the process before she disappears from everyone's eyes and minds completely.

Shit... I had a nightmare about that once. Well, I guess it was a dream really, since I used this "disability" to visit women's locker rooms and pr0n shoots.

Wow. Did you really just admit that to the interwebs?

Anyway, Sakuta becomes more and more susceptible to other people's Adolescence Syndromes the more he interferes with them, and soon finds himself dealing with: a girl who keeps rewinding time in order to avoid what she considers a doozy of a day; another girl who's jealous of her more sure-of-herself sister and who sort of body swaps with her; and then there's the friend who's tired of some of the choices that she's made in her young life and somehow splits into two versions of herself, one more expressive and the other meeker and much more passive.

Adolescence Syndrome is really like the mutant gene in the Marvel Comics' universe, only kids never really get any "gifts," only curses, and they can be cured with a simple understanding of what they were trying to avoid in the first place.

So, was it good? Was it bad? Was it fun or not?

I actually rather enjoyed it, at least for the most part. The comedy was great, the characters and their interactions were exceptional, and the mini-mysteries and solutions of each person's Adolescence Syndrome were satisfying to see "cured," even if there wasn't any real drama presented in any of the tales. I even really liked the opening and ending theme songs.

However, they chose to end the series with the weakest storyline, and the one that featured perhaps the weakest character: Sakuta's amnesiac sister.

After dealing with disappearing damsels, doppelganging classmates, and time-dilating dilemmas, handling his wimpy sister's self-imposed memory block was just a really lame way to tie this whole series up. Sakuta's sister was a pretty feeble character, and although her story ended on a bittersweet note, I found myself not caring that much about the outcome, and instead wondering about the disappearing/reappearing ghost girl who kept popping in and out of the boy's life when he needed a shoulder to cry on the most.

It was just an odd note to end this whole story on, but it didn't really destroy my enjoyment of the rest of what I had already watched.

Final word... You liked it? You hated it? You needed more fan service? What is it?

I liked Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. It wasn't as great as either Haruhi or Bakemonogatari, nor did it have its own distinct style, but the characters were fun and the supernatural problems that they have to overcome were original enough. My only beef with the series was that it ended on the most boring and lame storyline. They tried to make me care about Sakuta's sister, but I simply couldn't.

In the end though I find that I have to give this show a "B-". Maybe a "B". If you liked Haruhi and Bakemonogatari, give it a try. If you haven't seen one or both, watch Haruhi and Bakemonogatari first, then try Rascal.

Oh man, I suffered from "Adolescence Syndrome," baby! All in my pants, G. Like, I was syndroming everywhere! In school, on the bus, in the shower, in my bed!

Once, I suffered from a bout that almost caused me to go blind! It was cray-zee!

It finally ended, Holmes, when my dad caught me Adolescencing in the bathroom, and he threatened to kick me out of the house. Can you believe that shiznit! He was ready to call the cops on me! I think it was because the cat was in there with me and he was worried for that lil' tabby's health. But man, no cat ever died from a little mari-jeh-wanna smoke! Kids NEED that shit for all the growin' pains and puberty crap they's gots to put up with. Tie that together with no chance of gettin' a girly-friend due to all my mad computer skills that gave my complexion a slightly green tint, and this brother desperately needed a toke every now and then.

Man, I wonder what the kids in this show was all smokin' to see and experience all the crazy shit they saw! I want some!

I liked this Rascally show. It was definitely "Bakemono-lite," but G, that's okay. That's okay in my book. Chill out with a Colt 45 and a blunt and enjoy.

So, in this anime something called "Adolescence Syndrome" Is real... And it seems to only affect cute high school girls... And only a male can save them from their own self-imposed terror.

Thank you, Japan. Your misogyny is still horrifying in 2019. Go blow yourself.

Fuuuuuuuuck this show. Fuck Japan. Fuck the white male agenda!... Fuck my life.